In the end we were relieved to get three-points and a huge slice of good fortune in a tense, dramatic affair at Elland Road. Leeds saw their opponents reduced to ten-men and subsequently fluffed a penalty, having finally taken the lead they let the visitors back in it before Poleon's well taken winner.

Brian McDermott made three changes to the side that feebly surrendered to Millwall on Saturday, Lees, Green and Hunt returned at the expense of Wootton, Murphy and Varney.

A bigger than expected crowd of 21,749 saw Leeds dominate the early stages, I often felt though or final ball was lacking or unsuited, eg high, lingering crosses for the likes of the diminutive McCormack and Hunt to try and head in. Tonge had a half decent long range effort blocked and Austin's fierce drive turned into a chance for McCormack who saw Ryan Allsop clutch his drive to safety.

But on the half hour mark a dollop of good fortune landed United's way, Hunt broke free in the box and was subsequently pole axed by the advancing Allsop. Referee D Coote pointed to the spot and red-carded Allsop, McCormack stepped up and weakly rolled the spot-kick into the path of sub keeper Daryl Flahaven.

Flahaven endured a busy 15 minutes as we peppered his goal only to find our efforts blocked by some desperate defending by the 10 men. Leeds emerged early for the second half and we finally edged in front on 52, Warnock had provided a regular threat down the left all evening and supplied the perfect cross for McCormack to finally hit the target, the relief of the Scot and the fans was evident.

However if we expected the Southerners to fade away, we were mistakened as they looked a threat on the break. Jack Collison, on loan from West Ham tested Kenny but on 73 minutes Elland Road was silenced, protests of offside were ignored as Grabben pounced on a deft through ball to finish firmly past Kenny.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe even threw on another striker, Brett Pitman to try and steal all three points. However Brian McDermott had already made what would be a crucial substitution in withdrawing Noel Hunt from yet another miserable outing in a Leeds shirt and throwing on Poleon.

A couple of surging runs typical of the youngster got the crowd back on side and on 80 minutes he smashed home the winner, a Pearce header in the box falling kindly for him in the centre of the area.

The final 10 minutes plus another five added on proved to be typically untidy and tense in keeping with the game itself, in some respects it seemed unacceptable that we were hanging on to our lead against a side reduced to 10-men and missing nine players through injury but given our wretched form of late, maybe we should rejoice a victory no matter how fortunate and scrappy it was? After all given we head to bogey side Derby on Saturday, who have a new manager installed and battled back from 4-1 down to make a draw tonight, we need all the confidence we can carry and hopefully this victory will raise some of the doom and gloom of late.

Photo: Action Images

TimWhelan added 13:36 - Oct 2 I thought the sending off was a bit harsh, as Hunt just pushed the ball past the keeper and made sure they collided, had he made the effort to side-step the keeper I'm not sure he would have had a clear opportunity once he'd caught up with the ball. As for the penalty iteslf, the sub keeper was already moving to his left before McCormack hit it, yet he still put it to that side. I don't think we'd have won in AFCB had kept 11 men on the pitch, but in the middle of this run it's the result that matters, and let's hope it gives us a bit of confidence for Saturday.

0

Sniffer added 18:06 - Oct 2 I nearly bet on 2-1 to Leeds last night (at 7/1) but for some reason changed my mind at the last minute to make it 3-1 (odds of 15/1). Note to self: NEVER back this Leeds team to win by more than one goal. When they get one goal in front they will always try to keep what they've got and will never go for the jugular and kill teams off.
0

marko added 18:18 - Oct 2 Still can't work out how the referee mentally processed "denying a goal scoring opportunity" and "Noel Hunt" in the same decision
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Derby County Polls